Display device



June 3, 1952 T. H. BIRCH 2,598,755

DISPLAY DEVICE Filed April 2o, 1949 IEW/MM ATTORNEYS.

Patented June 3, 1952 DISPLAY DEVICE Thomas H. Birch, Cincinnati, Ohio Application April 20, 1949, Serial No. 88,520

9 Claims.

My invention relates to a display device and is serving of photographs, documents, specimens, and the like in a condition where theyV can be readily displayed and inspected.

It is an object of my invention to provide a display device in the form of a plaque wherein small articles or pictures may be readily mounted and held in position in my display device While it is being set up and retained in position at all times.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a display device for the mounting and displaying of articles as indicated above, but wherein the articles themselves are hermetically sealed from air and moisture.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a display device which may be easily disassembled in order to insert the articles desired to be displayed or to remove these articles and substitute others therefor. These and other objects of my invention which will be set forth hereinafter or will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these Specifications, I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which I shall now describe an exemplary embodiment, Reference is now made to the drawings which form a part hereof, and in Which- Figure 1 is a perspective View of my novel display device before any articles have been placed therein.

Figure 2 is a cross section of my device taken on the section line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a cross section similar to that shown in Figure 2 but with the display device opened to receive articles to be displayed.

Figure 4 is a front elevation of my display device containing articles to be displayed.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of my display device.

Figure 6 is a side elevation of a modified form of my display device in opened position.

Figure '7 is a side elevation of the form shown in Figure 6 in closed position.

Figure 8 is a cross section of a portion of the rear sheet of my display device.

Briefly, in the practice of my invention, I provide a sheet of flat transparent material such as glass, transparent plastic, or the like, and to the rear surface of this sheet I adhesively attach a second sheet of material one surface of which is coated with a pressure sensitive material. Between the two sheets, I place a third sheet which masks off a portion of the adhesive surface of the second sheet. This third sheet acts as a background or base against which the insertions appear. The third sheet contains apertures through which the adhesive surface of the second sheet is available to form spots of adhesive to hold the contents in position. The whole assembly is held together by the adhesive margin of the second sheet embracing the third sheet and adhering to the flat transparent sheet.

While in the following description and in the drawings, I refer to and have shown the transparent sheet as being planar, it can be curved or distorted, if desirable.

In the following description I will describe an embodiment which is primarily used to form a plaque including a photograph of a small child and a lock of the childs hair positioned in the plaque in a pleasing manner. It is to be understood, however, that my invention may be used for the display arid preservation of many other things which are relatively flat, such as advertisements, leaves, pressed flowers, specimens, and other flat material. I

The assembled unit may be placed in a picture frame or the transparent sheet may be edged with a picture frame or the like. The nished assembly can be incorporated into a lamp base, a photograph frame, ash tray, bookends, or form sheets of a loose leaf book.

Referring to the drawings, I provide a sheet I of transparent, relatively stiff material, such as glass or plastic. superimposed on the sheet I is a second sheet 2 which has a pressure sensitive adhesive 3 on the surface directed towards the sheet l. The pressure sensitive adhesive is shown in Figure 8, but is not shown in Figures 2 and 3.

sandwiched or interposed between the sheets I and 2 is a sheet 4. The sheet 4 may be opaque and carry art work as indicated in the drawings, or if desirable, may be translucent or transparent. The sheet 4 carries apertures 5 positioned at different places on, its surface. The sheet 4 is smaller than the sheets I or 2 so that when it is sandwiched between the sheets I and 2, a margin 6 of the adhesive surface of sheet 2 embraces the sheet 4 and seals to the sheet I. Inasmuch as the total surface of sheet 2 is coated with adhesive, spots of this adhesive are available through the apertures 5 in the sheet 4.

In order to make it possible to open up the unit and insert articles on the sheet 4 for display, I preferably provide a tab 1 on the end of the sheet 2 which has a covering 8 or some other means to prevent this portion of the surface of the sheet 2 from being adhesive.

My display device is normally sold as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The purchaser grasps the tab land peels back the sheet 2 to its upper margin 6. The margin 6 remains fastened to the sheet I and the sheet 2 together with the sheet 4 which is adhesively fastened thereto and rides up with sheet 2 is folded back on the margin portion 6 as a hinge.

In this position, a photograph 9 may be positioned on the sheet 4 and against the aperture so that it will stick in place against the sheet 4. A lock of hair which may be fastened together with a thread or a ribbon may be posi` tioned against the upper aperture 5 and it will be held in position against the sheet 4. After the articles 9 and IU have ibeen properly positioned on the sheet 4 and any writing or art work such as the name Il placed on the sheet 4, the sheets are again brought together as shown in Figure 2. Since the lock of hair Iand the photograph 9 stick to the surface of sheet 2 through the apertures l5 in sheet 4, theyvare maintained in position while closing the device.

It is to be noted that the margin 6 of sheet 2 tightly adheres to the sheet l around the margin of the sheet 4. This prevents air and moisture from entering the portion over the sheet 4. The sheet 2 may be transparent, translucent, or opaque so as to form a border around the sheet 4. After the articles have been placed in position and the sheet brought together, the tabs 1 may be torn or cut oif andthe finished devicewill appear as in Figure 4. As stated above, the fmished device may be inserted in a frame or used in other ways, or the sheet l may be of molded plasticwith a frame incorporated into the sheetv itself.

' In the modification shown in Figure 5, the

sheet l is larger than the sheet 2 so that a transparent margin I2 will result. *l In Figures 6 and 7, I have shown a modification wherein two transparent outer sheets l are used with a single sheet 2 therebetween. In this it is within the contemplation of my invention toj provide instead of the apertures 5 individual Vspots'of adhesive applied to the surface of sheet 4.

While I have shown apertures 5 as being small, round holes, it is to be understood that they may be of any desired shape and placed in any position for the purpose for which the device is intended. While I have shown sheet 2 as being one continuous sheet, it is within the contemplation of my invention to form'it of more than one sheet, since the sheet 2 could be formed of strips running around the margin of sheet 4 and separate strips adhesively secured to the back of sheet 4 over the apertures 5.

While I have described the adhesive as being pressure sensitive in the above description, I do not intend this as a limitation since adhesives of other types may be usable. From the above, it is apparent that I have provided a display device which may be used for many purposes and wherein diiferent articles or pictures may be carefully placed in predetermined position and will retain their position while setting up the device and lat all times, and which protects the con- 4 tents from air and moisture and resultsin a very pleasing, unusual, compact picture.

It is to be understood that the description and drawing are merely exemplary and that modicationrmay be made in my invention without departing from the spirit thereof, and-,I do not intend to limit myself otherwise than as pointed out in the claims which follow. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A display device comprising a sheet of transparent material, a second sheet having atleast one surface coated with adhesive bound thereby to a surface of said rst sheet, and a third sheet interposed 'between a portion of the coated surface of the second sheet and the first sheet and having at least one adhesive area therein for the purpose of adhesively securing an article between said first and third sheet so that it may be viewed through said first sheet.

2. A display device comprising a sheet of relatively stiff transparent material, a second sheet having at least one surface coated with adhesive bound thereby to a surface of said first sheet, and a third sheet interposed between a portion of the coated surface of the second sheet and the rst sheet and having at least one adhesive area therein for the purpose of adhesively securing an article between said rst and third sheet so it may be viewed through said'first sheet said adhesive area being pressure sensitive.

3. A self-sustaining displayv device comprising a sheet of relatively stiff transparent material, a second sheet having at least one surface coated with adhesive bound thereby to a surface of said first sheet, and a third opaque sheet interposed between a portion of the coated surface of the second sheet and the first sheet and having at least one selected aperture therein for the purpose of adhesively securing an article between said rst and third sheet, said third sheet being positioned within the margins of said second sheet, and said second sheet including a projecting tab provided with means preventing the adhesive from adhering to said rst sheet.

4. A display device comprising three sheets superimposed on each other, said first sheet being transparent at least in part relatively sti and at least as large as said other sheets, said second sheet having a surface coated with adhesive and a third opaque sheet of less area than said other sheets and having at least one aperture therein, said third sheet being interposed between the rst sheet and the coated surface of the second sheet and within the margins thereof so that the margins of said second sheet adhere to the nrst sheet around the margins of said third sheet with adhesive exposed Ithrough said aperturek of said third sheet, and means for manually removing staid third sheet from contact with said first shee l 5. A display devicecomprising a transparent f sheet, a second sheet having a surface coated lwith pressure sensitive adhesive, selected portions within the margin lofrsaid coated surface masked so as to be non-adhesive and the adhesive portion of said coated surface adhering to said transparent sheet and articles placed therebetween, and means for manually removing one sheet from the other.

6. A display device comprising a fiat transparent sheet, a second sheet having a surface coated with pressure sensitive adhesive, selected portions within the margin of said coated surface masked so as to be non-adhesive and the adhesive portion of said coated surface adhering to said transparent sheet and articles placed therebetween, and means projecting from said second sheet for manually removing one sheet from the other, said means being removable.

'7. A display device comprising two at transparent sheets superimposed on each other with a sheet having both surfaces coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive interposed therebetween, selected portions of the adhesive surfaces of said interposed sheet being masked so as to be opaque and non-adhesive and the adhesive portions adhering to said transparent sheets, and removable means projecting from said interposed sheet for removing the transparent sheets from the interposed sheet.

8. A self-sustaining display card comprising a sheet of relatively stiff transparent material, a second sheet having one surface coated with pressure sensitive adhesive and bound thereby to a surface of said rst sheet, a third opaque sheet carrying a design on its face interposed between a portion of the coated surface of the second sheet and the rst sheet with the face thereof in contact with the rst sheet, at least one aperture in said third sheet selectively located in reference to the design on the face of the sheet permitting the portion of the coating on said second sheet to penetrate through and selectively secure an a1'- ticle between said first and third sheet in relation to said design, said third sheet being positioned within the margins of said second sheet so that the Whole will form a pack sealed by the adhesive on said second sheet and the design and secured article will be visible through said first transparent sheet.

9. A self-sustaining display card comprising a sheet of relatively stiff transparent material, a

6 second sheet having one surface coated with pressure sensitive adhesive and `bound thereby to a surface of said rst sheet, a third opaque sheet carrying a design on its face interposed between a portion of the coated surface of the second sheet and the rst sheet with the face thereof in contact with the first sheet, at least one aperture in said third sheet selectively located in reference to the design on the face of the sheet permitting the portion of the coating on said second sheet to penetrate through and selectively secure an article between said first and third sheet in relation to said design, said third sheet being positioned within the margins of said second sheet so that the whole will form a pack sealed by the adhesive on said second sheet and the design and secured article will be visible through said Iirst transparent sheet, and a projecting tab on said second sheet for at least partially removing said sheet from said first sheet so the article may be placed in position.

THOMAS I-I. BIRCH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,139,377 Mull et al Dec. 6, 1938 2,186,827 Engel Jan. 9, 1940 2,283,026 Yates May 12, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 139,341 Austria vNov. 10, 1934 567,181 Great Britain Feb. 1, 1945 

